Taking the waters
December 11, 2020 - From our moment of conception, we begin a profound relationship and connection with water. From wild swimming to hydrotherapy walking and deep sea diving, here’s what cultivating a blue mind can do for you!
What is it about water?
According to Friend of Six Senses and author of the bestselling book Blue Mind Dr. Wallace J Nichols, we are just beginning to learn that our brains are hardwired to connect and react positively to water.
Until now, most of the conversation about water has traditionally been about the economic and ecological benefits of water. The emotional benefits, however, have often been left out, downplayed or undervalued. In fact, they're massively important to our lives.
We know that stress damages us. It damages us at a cellular level, at a neurological level. Stress is implicated in all kinds of diseases and disorders and dysfunctions in our modern society. Water, by helping us take transform our sensorium. It can even be medicine.
The healing power of water
In fact, for thousands of years, every spiritual tradition refers in one way or another to this idea that water is healing. The Romans’ technology and architecture made the public baths a forerunner in hydrothermal bathing; however, history books from China dating back to the 7th-century BCE refer to springs containing sulfur to treat disease.
The Ottoman Empire gave rise to the hammam (or Turkish bath) in the 16th century, used as a form of cleansing before a visit to the mosque. The French figured out how to harness minerals from the sea in thalassotherapy treatments with the opening of the first warm water spa in Dieppe in 1822, and the use of warm seawater, algae, seaweed and alluvial mud, are now common throughout the world.
Visit any of our Six Senses spas and you’ll instantly see (and feel) our various interpretations of this ancient belief that water is medicine for our body, mind, heart and soul. We even have new science that confirms this! For example, the Six Senses Hydrotherapy Walk at Six Senses Spa Courchevel provides an alternative yet therapeutic way to ease muscle aches and boost overall well-being, using the physical properties of water in several different forms.
As an aside, Masaru Emoto[1] became interested in the life energy in water and began to investigate the crystallization patterns of water from pure and polluted sources. He discovered that words are powerful too and that the patterns much prefer love and appreciation to hate.
Outdoor swimming
From diving into the deep blue ocean to paddling in a river, the popularity of outdoor swimming among rosy-cheeked free spirits is at an all-time high. It is not just an Instagram pursuit but also linked to reducing inflammation and hailed by the British Medical Journal[2] for having a positive impact on our mental health too.
“There’s a growing desire for reconnection, a yearning to recover a sense of how the natural world smells, tastes and sounds,” says Kate Rew, founder of the Outdoor Swimming Society. “Wild waters come in different scents and flavors and different kinds of fresh. Swimmers often feel that in water they are truly ‘in their element’ and this nurtures a different kind of well-being.”
The underwater world is a place of tranquility and wonder and there are many opportunities to explore it further at 11 of our resorts.
Water ritual
As part of our Reconnect With Six Senses journey of discovery rolling out across our resorts, this precious resource will be celebrated through a water ritual. All Six Senses properties bottle their own water on site, which avoids the transportation of almost 2 million plastic bottles a year. Guests are invited to pour water into a singing bowl, where it is charged through music and positive vibrations. It bubbles like champagne but is an altogether more powerful cocktail.
“The lesson is that when we look at water as not just an economic engine or an ecological source of life, but also critical to our emotional health, then we increase its value,” concludes Dr. Wallace J Nichols. “By looking at water as a source for creativity and romance and connectivity and wellness, then, wow, you start to think about water very differently and hopefully this will inspire all of us to take better care of our oceans, lakes, and rivers and all the sources of water around us.”
Find out more about Reconnect With Six Senses
[1] https://www.masaru-emoto.net/en/
[2] https://casereports.bmj.com/content/2018/bcr-2018-225007.abstract